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Monday, 21 October 2013

Recruiting the gang - necromunda and Iron Fists updates

Hi everyone,

Back to normal this week I hope, and here's modelling Monday's update for you.

Regular readers will remember that I've recently got back into necromunda, and I and a few friends will be starting a campaign in November. We've set wysiwyg rules for all the models, so this weekend I spent stripping my old Orlocks down to bare metal and starting again (it's 15 years since I painted them and I've improved a lot since

I also decided to make themed scenic bases for them all, and the complete gang is shown above. I've done close-up photos of all the individual models below, and written a brief history for each based on the campaign background, which you can read here.

This is Brew, he's taking cover in the gap created between two industrial looking uprights created by the support framework from an imperial guard dozer blade. He's standing on a couple of pieces of cork to stop his tabard from interfering with the scenery.

Brew is the only member of the Death Spectres to have volunteered for the job, seeking Boone out when news broke of his survival. Brew owned the bar where Boone first came to the attention of the Shining Falls Guard, and the two men formed a firm friendship over the months he spent in the town.

This is maggot, one of two juves in the gang and he's standing on a cupola hatch from a razorback and a door from a landspeeder, intended to represent a sewer cover and some rubble.

Maggot is unique amongst the Death Spectres, as he is the step-son of Brew, and as such was neither a volunteer nor a recruit, his acceptance was a condition of Brew joining the gang. Whilst not as experienced an underhiver as many of the other members of the Death Spectres, Maggot does possess a keen mind and an ambitious nature, and is determined to take this opportunity to take control of Shining Falls, and sees the Death Spectres as the ideal vehicle for achieving that goal.

This is Crank, he's sheltering behind a random piece of armour I found in my bitz box, not sure what its from. That's supplemented by a jerry can, a shovel and a pintle mount.

Crank was another former acquaintance of Boone back in his Guard days, indeed he served as Boone’s squad sergeant to begin with, and the two instantly formed a close bond due to Crank’s commitment to making Shining Falls a safer place. He was not one to follow authority however, and was well known for being prepared to always go one step further than the criminals he apprehended. It made him a feared enforcer of the town’s laws, but eventually the Governor took the view that the summary public examples he made of criminals prior to their guilt being established was reckless, and he was dismissed from the force. Boone knows however, that if he is to gain the revenge he seeks, then he will need men such as Crank who will give everything for him, regardless of the cost.

This is rebel, he's a basic ganger with a lasgun an I've used some etched brass from a GW basing kit along with a couple of parts from a leman russ dozer blade support to make it look like he's standing in front of some sort of screen/window.

Rebel was the Governor’s eldest son, and although the two men were not close, the massacre hit him hard. The Governor had banished him not long after Boone arrived in Shining Falls for abusing the authority and power he held due to his position, and Boone was tasked with removing him from the township and seeing him safely to the nearest settlement. During the journey, the two men had the chance to come to understand each other’s motives, and realised that Rebel still cared about his father but needed a focus for his energies that had not been forthcoming. If anything, Rebel is even more committed to the cause of revenge than Boone, and sometimes the icy-calm of the leader of the Death Spectres is tested to its limit in keeping Rebel from doing something reckless.

This is Butcher, he's been converted to carry a flail instead of a knife, and is standing over a random piece of tech I found in my bitz box.

Butcher, or 'Butch' as he is often known was not, as his name suggests, the town meat seller. He was in fact the main enforcer for the one gang element to have ever gained a foothold in Shining Falls, and he gained the moniker for his inventive knife-work in that field. At the time of the massacre, Butch was languishing in a detention cell where Boone had put him, and agreed to join the Death Spectres in exchange for freedom. Although Butch is not a natural leader, it remains obvious to all that he retains a grudge against Boone himself, and is planning for the day when the grim leader of the Death Spectres lets his guard down.

This is junkyard, one of the heavies of the gang, and he's there to thin out the crowd of any close assault gangers that try to get near. He's also the only model that's not quite finished, as I need to finish sculpting his arm and the flamer strap.

One of the Death Spectre's heavy weapon specialists, Junkyard was a weaponsmith of of no small skill that was known to Boone during his days in the Shining Falls Guard. A genius at making weapons from scrap, he is somewhat less able when it comes to people skills. Boone managed to persuade him to join the gang however, enticing him with promises of being able to continue his preferred occupation whilst remaining under the protection of the gang themselves. In combat, Junkyard prefers the cleansing power of flames to destroy his foes and is a master of wielding his customised flamethrower.

This is weasel, he's the second juve in the gang, and he's been converted to carry a stub gun. He's standing behind a cut down piece of armour from a chimera.

The most recent recruit to the Shining Falls Guard, Weasel escaped the massacre completley unharmed as he was taking part in a covert assignment at the time, spying on the nearby gangs and their plans. Boone quickly made his recruitment a priority when he realised Maggot was not among the dead, and the knowledge he has provided led to many of the Death Spectre's early successes.

This is Hawg, he's the test model I painted to make sure I was happy with the gangs colour scheme, and I've since built his base to suggest him taking cover behind a barrel that's standing on some shattered deck plating.

Recruited less for his fighting ability and more for his ability to unearth archaeotech treasures, Hawg was a notable horde miner before the massacre, and scrounger without compare. Hawg therefore forms a major part of Boon's strategy for revenge, and takes responsibility for squeezing the maximum possible resource from the Death Spectre's territories.

This is Boone, the gang leader, who's been converted to carry a plasma pistol and a chainsword as he's the main close combat punch of the gang. He's standing on part of the casing from the arm of a marine dreadnought with an HK missile rack.

Regulus Boone was a modest, honest and hardworking man who happened upon Shining Falls when working as a guard on a guilder's caravan. The guilder's trade however required less protection on the return journey uphive, and several of the guards were released, Boone included. He became another statistic, mining the horde by day and occupying the town's bar by night. One day however, a brawl broke out in the Brewer's Tap and as a friend of the landlord, Boone was prominent in breaking up the fight before anyone was killed. His actions brought him to the attention of the Shining Falls Guard, and by extension the Governor. The Landlord's good word saw Boone elevated from miner to the Guard himself, and over the following months he proved to be an asset to the township, being a crucial figure in breaking up a gang that had settled into the town, attempting to wrest control of the horde from the Governor. Boone settled into life in Shining Falls well, and was a shining exemplar of someone who worked tirelessly to make the town a better, safer place.

Then came the massacre, and everything he had known came crashing down. Boone was not the first to fall that night, nor would he be the last, but he was at the forefront of the fighting in the compound, and it was only the frantic nature of the fight that saved his life. When it became apparent that they were being attacked, the Guard organised the majority of their remaining personnel into a single strike force, intended to overwhelm the Spyrers. Boone was in the front lines, and though he was cut down, the blow merely caused superficial wounds and knocked him unconscious, the Spyrers leaving him for dead to turn their attentions to the rest of their attackers.

In the aftermath of the fight, Boone became a bitter man, driven by a burning desire for revenge on the creatures that had taken from him everything he cared for. Using his unique position and knowledge of both the town and its surroundings, he quickly gathered to him a group of individuals keen to make the most of the power vacuum to claim the territory and exploit the riches of the horde themselves.

Boone's motives remain more destructive however, and he intends to see revenge at all costs, even his own life and the lives of his gang.

Finally this is vulture, the second heavy. He's also standing on a rhino hatch, and has an open ammo crate by his side to strengthen the image of a weapon with a high rate of fire.

Vulture is a sadist, pure and simple, and loves seeing others suffer. In fact, he's exactly the kind of person Boone would have avoided at all costs in his former life, but was one of the first people Boone visited when recruiting members for the Death Spectres. Vulture's speciality though is in firearms, the heavier the better, and he wields his trusty heavy stubber the way an artist would wield a brush.

In other news, I've done a bit of work on my Iron Fists, pics attached below.